The present invention relates to an image display apparatus capable of displaying an outline of a moving picture as a still picture. For example, the invention relates to an image display apparatus applied to a system of retrieving a desired moving picture from a plurality of kinds of moving pictures.
Conventionally, an information retrieving technique intended for characters is widely used. However, with respect to a retrieving technique intended for video image, there are few realized examples and various attempts are still being made at present. Among them, moving picture retrieving methods such as a method using an image recognizing technique, a method using a scene extracting technique, and the like have been being studied from various viewpoints.
For example, in a VOD (Video On Demand) system in which a moving picture server and a database server are combined, the contents (of the moving picture) can be retrieved by a keyword retrieval of a title name or the like, The title name, however, does not always properly express the contents. Under the present circumstances, in many cases, the contents can be recognized as a result from playing them back.
In order to solve the problem, as disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application No. 2-260075, the applicant of the invention has proposed a video browser technique with a view to showing a moving picture so as to be recognized at sight. According to the video browser technique, index picutres as so-called digest still pictures are generated on the basis of partial picutres sampled from each of a series of still pictures which form a moving picture through a moving slit window and are listed in accordance with the time, thereby enabling the outline contents of the moving picture to be recognized at a glance.
According to the video browser technique, since the contents of a moving picture of an enormous amount recorded in an invisible state are displayed in the form of still pictures compressed according to the time, the contents of the moving picture can be immediately grasped.
Examples of a method of displaying the index pictures include a method of displaying all the generated index pictures and a method of sequentially displaying only a predetermined number of index pictures among the generated index pictures in accordance with the order from the head index picture.
However, In the case of the method of displaying all the generated index pictures, for example, when the number of generated index pictures is large, all of the index pictures are not displayed within a screen depending on the display environment (size of the screen or the like) and there is accordingly the possibility that the moving picture cannot be efficiently viewed.
In the case of the method of displaying only a predetermined number of index pictures in accordance with the order from the head index picture, since the predetermined number of index pictures are always displayed, there is the possibility that the index pictures cannot be displayed on a screen at once, or that a vein space in which no index picture is displayed occurs depending on the display environment. In this case, even when the size of the screen can be changed, only a fixed number of index pictures are displayed. Consequently, the pictures are not properly displayed according to the display environment.
Further, in the case of the method of sequentially displaying a fixed number of index pictures from the head, for example, when the moving picture is of a long time, only the head portion of all the generated index pictures can be seen. Consequently, there is a problem such that the whole moving picture cannot be checked.
As for the method of displaying all the generated index pictures, the length of the moving picture can be grasped roughly from the number of displayed index pictures. As opposed to it, in the case of the method of displaying only the predetermined number of index images, there is a problem such that the length of the moving picture cannot be determined.
The invention has been achieved in consideration of the problems and its object is to provide a picture display apparatus and method capable of properly displaying an index picture generated by a video browser technique in accordance with the display environment, the contents of a moving picture, and the like.
A picture display apparatus of the invention comprises: index picture holding means for holding an index image generated by summarizing a moving picture as a still picture on the basis of a plurality of still pictures arranged in time sequence so as to construct a moving picture; display means for displaying the index picture held by the index picture holding means; and display form determining means for determining a display form of the index picture displayed on the display means in accordance with at least either display environment of the display means or the contents of the moving picture.
A picture displaying method of the invention comprises the steps of: holding an index picture generated by summarizing a moving picture as a still picture on the basis of a plurality of still pictures arranged in time sequence so as to construct a moving picture; and determining a display form of the index picture to be displayed on display means in accordance with at least either display environment of the display means for displaying the held index picture or the contents of the moving image.
In the picture display apparatus and method of the invention, the index picture generated by summarizing the moving picture as a still picture on the basis of the plurality of still pictures arranged in time sequence so as to construct a moving picture, and a display form of the index pictures to be displayed on display means is determined according to at least either the display environment of the display means for displaying the held index image or the contents of the moving picture.
Other and further objects, features and advantages of the invention will appear more fully from the following description.